School of Medicine

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Bio
Dr. Jamie Ahloy Dallaire received his B.Sc. in Biology from McGill University (2004-2007), in Montréal, Québec, then went on to study fundamental and applied ethology with Dr. Georgia Mason at the University of Guelph, in Ontario. There, his M.Sc. work (2008-2011) pertained to abnormal repetitive behaviors, environmental enrichment, and animal welfare in American mink and in Asiatic black bears. In his doctoral research (2011-2015), Dr. Ahloy Dallaire studied the developmental effects and evolutionary functions of play in mink and in lambs. Since 2015, he has been working on automated behavioral assessment of pain in laboratory mice, with Dr. Joseph Garner in the Department of Comparative Medicine at Stanford University. Since 2017, he has additionally been working on barbering and ulcerative dermatitis in laboratory mice as models of trichotillomania and skin-picking disorder, and planning a first-in-human clinical trial of a therapeutic candidate in collaboration with UCLA clinician researchers. He also frequently collaborates with animal researchers and clinical scientists on aspects of experimental design and statistical analysis, to help them conduct powerful and informative experiments.

In terms of fundamental ethology, Dr. Ahloy Dallaire's research interests include animal play as well as using behavior to assess emotions, motivation, and welfare in animals. In particular, he is fascinated by the long-standing question of why a behavior so seemingly frivolous as play was selected and maintained by evolution. His research on mink suggests that, at least for this species, rough-and-tumble play in young animals may serve as crucial preparation for adult sexual behavior. In terms of applied ethology, Dr. Ahloy Dallaire's current work aims to decrease the negative impacts of biomedical research on laboratory animal welfare, and to deliver better outcomes for human patients through improved research. He believes that good welfare makes for good science, and that these two goals can be achieved in conjunction through a focus on the 3Rs (hhttp://nc3rs.org.uk/the-3rs).

Dr. Ahloy Dallaire's work has been recognized with awards from organizations including the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare, and the Ontario Graduate Scholarship. He has presented his work at meetings of the Animal Behavior Society, the International Ethological Congress, the Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour, the International Society for Applied Ethology, and the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science. His research has been published in journals such as Animal Behaviour, PLoS One, BMC Medical Research Methodology, Behavioural Brain Research, Lab Animal, and Applied Animal Behaviour Science.